


Dawn of Corr Kendrick

by marta1854



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-20
Updated: 2019-01-20
Packaged: 2019-10-13 05:24:23
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 12,144
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17482028
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/marta1854/pseuds/marta1854
Summary: At twenty Corr Kendrick was not ready for the end of the world. She was just an insecure introvert avoiding most interaction and hating confrontation while working on her Game Design and Development Degree. In this new world will she survive, find her family, and do the things she’s never done before, including falling in love? Eventual Daryl/OC romance.





	1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1-When the Dead Walk

_Four days before the global outbreak_

I wake up to the voice of none other than Ana Moynihan, my roommate and one of the fourteen people on campus…or in general…that I would call a friend, whisper-yelling “You’re kidding me right?!” I groan and glance at the clock as she scoffs “How was it an accident?” Unfortunately it read five a.m. which meant that I had only gotten about two hours of sleep having ended up working on the coding for my final project till three. And there was only one person she would be talking to…or well arguing with…this early in the morning, her on-again-off-again boyfriend Luis Close, which meant that I probably wasn’t going to be able to go back to sleep. Depending on how long their argument lasts and what it’s about.

“What’d he do this time?” I question yawning causing her to apologize “Sorry Corr. I was trying to be quiet.” Before angrily saying “But it’s pretty hard when your boyfriend calls to tell you he “accidentally” slept with someone.” Complete with air quotes around accidentally. “Yeah.” I respond nodding as I sit up while she now redirects her attention back to him by yelling “You bastard made me wake up Corr on top of cheating on me again!” She’s quiet for a moment listening to whatever he’s telling her before saying “You’re sorry? You should be sorry.” She listens again for a second before probably cutting him off with “You can’t accidentally sleep with someone! It’s not like you just happened to slip with your pants down and have your dick land in her vagina. We’re done.”

She quiet for a second again before probably cutting him off again with “No. No other chance. I’ve given you so many already and now you do this again. I can’t believe you. Don’t contact me. Don’t look at me. Don’t show up at my dorm. Don’t show up at my work. And don’t bother Corr. You know it won’t work. Goodbye.” And finishing by violently hanging up and slamming the poor phone onto her bed.

“What did that poor phone ever do to you?” I question, trying to lighten the mood a little, causing her to give a small chuckle as she responds “Nothing.” Before picking it up, apologizing to it with an “I’m sorry. I’m not mad at you but at who I was talking too.”, gently placing it on her side table, and looking at me with a questioned “Better?” I shrug before saying “Luckily you didn’t break it. Your final project is on there.” “I know. I’d have to do all that work again if I did.” She responds flopping down on her bed so I advise “Just download it onto your laptop already.” “I know!” She wines before muttering “But it’s in Luis’s room.” “Ana.” I sigh out then causing an annoyed “I know already! “Don’t leave anything you need anywhere other than our room.” You’re like a bad fortune cookie Corr.” Complete with her imitation of me when repeating what I kept telling her when she’s left something important somewhere. “I’m a common sense fortune cookie. I swear you’d leave your head somewhere if it wasn’t attached to you.” I respond only to get a cried “I would not!” before a wined “I need ice cream!” Rolling my eyes I sigh out “Just don’t eat my cookie dough.” “Yay! I love you Corr!” She cries flailing happily on her bed so I respond “I know. I love you too. Now shut up, eat your ice cream, watch legally blonde for the hundredth time, and let me get some more sleep before I have to go to class at noon.”

_Day three of the global outbreak_

“So…what do you think?” I ask Ana as the “trailer” for my final project ended. Believe it or not she was getting a Film Degree to become a director and was actually in the top ten of the students and her judgement for what will be popular is almost always spot on. So I started creating “trailers” for my projects to show her them before turning them in and tweaking some things she didn’t like about them.

“It’s really awesome! I don’t play video games but I think I’d make an exception for that.” She answers really excitedly so I question “Really? There isn’t anything you would change? I mean this is only the prologue of what I have in mind for a whole game eventually. It isn’t too far ahead in the future for the game series? The first one this would be the sequel for covers the being of people getting powers, remember?” “Corr!” She snaps then causing me to jump a little and look away from the screen and at her. “It’s perfect. If you didn’t go as far as you did it wouldn’t make sense. Not only would I submit that for your final but also submit that to the developers of the original. They’ll hire you in a heartbeat and pay you to make the whole game. Not to mention that Delsin Rowe is the type of main character that’d connect really well with everyone. Not just those that play video games.” “Thanks.” I tell her to get a “No thank you.” From her just before her phone rang.

“He only lasted a week this time.” She sighs out before answering it with a “What to do want Luis?” She listens to what he says before questioning “What do you mean there’s people going crazy and biting other people?” I quickly turn on our T.V. and switch it to the news. Sure enough the headline was about how some people have gone crazy and started biting other people in different small spots around the world. “It sounds like some type of video game plot. Maybe it’s something like the War of the Worlds broadcast situation?” I say then causing her to say “Yeah. It sounds way to crazy to be true.” “Yeah.” I say nodding before she says “Jesus Luis. Even if it is real it’s not even close to here. I mean look, they say it’s quarantined anyway. And…we’re not together anymore because you cheated for the second time. Why do you care about what may or may not happen to me?” After a few minutes of silence with her listening to what he has to say she says “I need actions not words Luis. Thanks for the unneeded news update. Bye.” And hangs up the phone.

“You know what? Let’s binge watch Jericho since Luis is freaking about the end of the world.” She announces snatching the remote from me and switching the T.V. to the D.V.D. Player. I just sigh and sit down on my bed while she puts the first D.V.D. in. I didn’t have any more classes this week so a nineteen plus hour long series binge was fine with me.

_Day four of the global outbreak_

I wake up to the sound of Luis violently banging on our door and yelling “Ana! Corr! Open up!” I groan and roll over as Ana yells “Jesus Luis! What?!” “Just open up!” He calls back causing her to sigh, get up, go over, and let him in. He immediately slams the door shut and says “You two need to pack. You’re coming over.” “Whoa slow down. What are you talking about?” She asks causing an immediate “That thing is spreading. It hasn’t reached here yet but it’d be safer for you two to stay with us at our house until this thing is under control. Mathias, Granger, and Byron are leaving and going home. Clark, Brenden, and Patrick are getting their girls too. Eric and Stan are staying too.” From him. “I’m not your girl anymore. Besides what makes you think we want to stay with you?” She scoffs causing him to snap “Ana please! I don’t care if we get back together right now! I just want you and Corr to be somewhere safer than an apartment if that thing gets here.” With that she just huffs a “Fine.” Before saying “Come on Corr. It won’t hurt anything if we do go.”

Sighing I get up and grab my book bag and satchel bag/purse while Ana grabs her book bag, purse, and suitcase. I then manage to pack my laptop (plus its charger and protective case), my phone (plus its charger), my Nintendo DS (plus its charger, a few games, and small travel case), my MP3 player (plus its charger) my comfiest pair of jeans, two pairs of black leggings, a two of my favorite t-shirts, both my black and my gray tank top, my black Nightmare before Christmas oversized sweater; a few changes of underwear, socks, and sports-bras; my dark-grey Fox brand zip-up hooded jacket, and a couple of my favorite manga series and books all in just my two bags, in addition to my things needed for class still in my book bag. It probably had to do with the fact that my book bag was a large military issue bag my dad had used during his training. Ana used to tease me about having such a big bag but I never have had to use another when traveling because of it and right now it’s pretty useful.

_Day five of the global outbreak_

Neither Brenden nor his girlfriend Victoria showed up last night or were answering their phones. Everyone was starting to get worried and a feeling of…I don’t know what…seemed to fill the air. It didn’t help that the news had started to change its tune and now had an announcement of _“Due to the raise in unexplained cannibalistic activity you are advised to stay indoors and lock your houses. Do not go outside. If you know anyone who has the following symptoms, quarantine them immediately. The symptoms are: coughing, fever, high temperatures, vomiting, and severe hallucinations. There is a refugee center in Atlanta, however if you aren’t in the immediate area, please do not go outside. Stay indoors. Lock your doors and windows. The Army and the National Guard will take care of it.”_ on repeat.

“I don’t think we should go outside.” Dove, Clark’s girlfriend, whispers as we all stared at the T.V. causing almost all of us to nod in agreement. “I agree. I do. But what about Brenden and Victoria?” Patrick questions earning a “Yeah. Shouldn’t we go and check on them?” from Stan. “And do what? None of us knows what this thing is.” Eric says causing an annoyed “Not all of us are scared of going outside.” From Patrick, referencing Eric’s mild-agoraphobia. “Don’t be a dick!” Cali, his girlfriend, snaps just before something slams against the front door causing everyone to jump and look at it.

“Guys! Open up! Hurry!” the panicked voices of Brenden and Victoria screams from the other side then followed by rapid and violent knocking. Patrick and Stan are the first to react by running over, quickly unlocking and opening the door, and quickly helping Brenden carry an injured Victoria inside. But before they can get the door closed a bloody guy trips over the small step up to get in and falls to the ground. That’s when Dove screams in terror as we all notice that he has a large chunk of flesh taken out of his face and is missing an arm while he groans and reaches his remaining arm out towards the four.

“Quick! Get him out!” Brenden yells as they back away from him so Clark and Luis goes over there quickly before jumping back as Brenden adds “Wait! He’ll try and bite you! Be careful!” “Hurts like a bitch!” Victoria snarls then so the boys just start slamming the door shut on the guy’s face, causing a sickening squishing and cracking sound with each smash. Dark and chunky blood starts to seep from under the door as the guy slowly gets smashed out causing Dove to vomit on the floor before running to the bathroom gagging as the rest of us just gag once in disgust and look away from it. Maybe all the violent video games and horror movies have desensitized us. Or maybe it’s because it looks somewhat similar to…you know...and witnessing it every month has desensitized us.

 ****Time Skip****

“What the hell is going on? Did we just murder that guy?” Dove questions after calming down enough and Cali had helped Victoria with the bite on her ankle. “That guy wasn’t a guy anymore. He was…something else.” Brenden answers so Victoria adds “We ran into a couple on the way here this morning after finally convincing Camille she should come with us.” “Where is Camille?” Cali questions worriedly only for the two to get a look of guilt as Brenden says “I wasn’t paying attention as I was pulling one of those things off Vic and she…she got attacked too…but it tore her whole throat out…I just-I just grabbed Vic and ran.” “Jesus.” Ana breathes out as we look at each other in a mix of worry, fear, and dread. Whatever that thing is here and people are dying. I was just glad that I knew that my father wasn’t currently on tour and was home to help protect mom.

_Day six of the global outbreak_

We were all woken up the next morning by Brenden screaming for Cali. We all rush to the room he and Victoria were in to find her covered in sweat and writhing with eyes that weren’t focusing on anything. Cali rushes over and places a hand on her forehead for only a second before immediately pulling it back all while Brenden is muttering “She just started doing this.” Over and over again. “Everyone out.” Cali says quickly causing Brenden to snap out of it and question “What? Why? What’s wrong with her?” “She’s burning up. Literally. We have to quarantine her.” Cali answers immediately causing him to shout “What?! No! I’m not leaving her!” “I guess it’s your choice. But I can’t do anything more for her.” Cali answers backing out of the room as Stan starts trying to convince Brenden to at least stand at the door while Ana starts pulling me away and the others leaving as well. There was nothing we could do…Victoria was probably going to die.

****Time Skip****

After a few hours of all of us just staring at each other in the living room Brenden screamed. But the scream stopped abruptly. We all immediately grab the few weapons, which we gathered up yesterday and determined to keep at least one in our determined groups that would always be together/just outside the door in the house (Ana with a crowbar that for some reason was in Granger’s room, Louis with one of the large kitchen knives, and Me with no weapon, then Patrick with the makeshift weapon he made out of duct tape, a metal hockey stick, and the rest of the kitchen knives, Cali without a weapon, and Stan with a bat, Brenden with the other bat and Victoria, and finally Dove without a weapon, Clark with gun his father gave him for protection “in the city”, and Eric without a weapon), before running to the room.

There is a collective gasp as Patrick slowly opens the door to reveal Victoria tearing Brenden’s chest open as they laid in a puddle of blood coming from his chest and the gaping hole in his throat. She then slowly looked up at us with milky white eyes and growled before slowly getting up and slowly coming towards us while reaching out. Stan immediately slams his bat into the side of her head with a cried “You bitch!” sending her to the floor. Un-phased she slowly starts getting back up growling causing the rest of the guys, minus Eric who didn’t have a weapon, to rush in and start beating her with them. But it wasn’t until Stan manages to smash her head open with his bat that she stopped growling and moving. “It looks like it has to be the head.” He says slowly turning towards Brenden who had started growling and slowly raises his bat above his head before adding “Sorry man.” Before slamming it down on Brenden’s head with all his force. This effectively smashes it at causes Dove to scream “Why did you do that?!” “He became one of those things. Just like Victoria.” Patrick answers for him causing the reality of the situation to flood us. You get bit…you die, come back, attack, and don’t stop until your head is smashed.

  _Day seven of the global outbreak_

Today has been solemn as we collect and take note of how much food and hydrating beverages we have. It should be obvious that there was no way any of us were going to go outside anytime soon. Especially how every once and a while there will be a scream or gunshots outside now. And we didn’t trust drinking or using the water from the pipes. Who knows how the original people became infects. But there was only a week worth of food for the nine of us and that’s with only two “meals” per day. Luckily there was enough beverages to keep us hydrated for a few weeks. But this was also dependent on how long we had power to keep the perishable things good. Without power we’d have less than a week of food of one “meal” per day and only a week of beverages. Let’s hope we don’t lose power or get forced to leave before then.


	2. Chapter 2-Is This The End?

_Day eight of the global outbreak_

The nine of us were currently gathered around my computer watching the video I found online from a news camera man:

**_It starts with sirens being heard in the background before who we all assume is the camera man cleans off the camera lens while a man’s voice in the background says “628 Tremont. 3 Dead. No, just the usual. Fuck. Usual.” It then pans over and we see the voice is coming from a cop who looks over to his partner as he questions “It’s no big deal these days right? Some guy, what’s his name?” “I don’t know.” His partner responds earning an “Oh, who knows his name?” from the first cop as the camera zooms in on an arriving ambulance, the source of the sirens. It zooms back in to the first cop as he says into the radio “Who cares. Fucking shoots his wife and kid, and eats the fuckin’ licorice. Sticks it in his mouth and blows his own brains out.” The ambulance pulls in then, right in front of where the camera man had set up causing him to run over to it as the cop continues “This guy has no ID, no fuckin’ papers. Probably squirreled over the goddamn border.” That’s when the camera man tells the EMT’s “Hey, guys. Channel 10 News. Listen, you’re kind of blocking our shot. Can I get you to move forward a bit?” while pointing back towards the camera. “Yeah, sure.” A female voice tells him so he tells them “Thanks.” Before running back over questioning “You ready?” “Yeah, almost. Two minutes. Let’s grab some more B-roll.” Another female voice answers, who we assume is probably the reporter, as the ambulance pulls up and we see people wheeling out two bodies covered in white sheets. It then turns to focus on who must be the reporter, since she’s fixing her hair in the side mirror of the news van, as the camera man’s voice tells her “Can’t get close enough for an Emmy.” “Screw the Emmy. I’d settle for a fucking paycheck.” She tells him causing him to respond “Story of my life.” As it pans over to the driver of one of the ambulances, who was nonchalantly eating a sandwich. “Look at this guy. Look at this fuckin’ guy.” The first cop comments followed by the frame zooming out as he continues commenting “Chowing down while his buddies are shoving a corpse in the back of the van.” “Okay, I’m ready. Let’s do it.” The reporter says then so it pans back over to her, stepping in the middle of the shot so both bodies could still be seen. “Am I good?” she questions earning a “Yeah” from him so she starts to turn on her “reporter” persona while the one body in the background starts twitching. They pull back the sheet revealing what looks like a woman. They go to check her vitals as the reporter reports “Bree Reno reporting live from Homestead, where tragedy be-felled an immigrant family. An unidentified man has shot his wife and sixteen year old son to death before turning the gun on himself.” The “dead’ woman starts twitching more obviously then causing the camera man to exclaim “Jesus!” “What?” Bree questions annoyed so the camera man say “I don’t believe this.” As the woman continues to twitch more and more noticeable. “What? Is there something wrong with the camera? Just fix it.” Bree tells him annoyed and oblivious to what’s happening behind her causing him to tell her “She’s-she’s still moving.” “Oh, for Christ’s sake, Brody. I’m right in the middle of a-What?” Bree complains just before we see the woman drag down and attack one of the paramedics causing camera man Brody to exclaim “Jesus fuckin’ Christ!” “For god’s sake!” Bree exclaims turning to look as a voice in the background questions “What the hell is going on over there?” before Bree turns back around saying “I thought they were dead.” “They’re supposed to be. They are! I don’t know. She’s moving on the frickin’ gurney man!” Brody exclaims before telling her “Get out of the way. Come on.” She gets out of frame as some calls for backup and the woman sits up on the gurney still attacking the poor paramedic. Another finally pulls him away and the camera focuses on the woman, with distinct gunshot wounds in her chest and a distinct bite mark on her arm, clearly dead as she stands up from the gurney before the camera pans, focuses on a second body that still wasn’t moving, pans, and focuses on a third body now starting to twitch as someone exclaims “The other one’s moving!” The female paramedic pulls back the sheet and the boy, with three distinct gunshot wounds in his back, sits up and attacks her. She pushes and kicks him away as the cop exclaims “Take him out!” before they start shooting at him. The camera focus on the kid, with a now visible bloodied bandage on one of his hands and bloodied mouth, as he gains more shots to the torso that start tearing chucks of flesh off. “He’s not going down! He’s not going down!” the cop exclaims before he’s finally shot in the head and he crumbles in a heap. Just then the woman appears in the shot reaching for Brody causing him to exclaim “Holy shit!” as she ends up just knocking the camera over before going and attacking Bree. “Bree!” Brody screams before we hear Bree screaming and blood pouring onto the ground from the attack out of shot while the cop orders “Shoot her in the head!” There’s then a single gunshot dropping the woman. We then see Bree drop to her knees with a huge chuck of flesh missing from her face and frozen from the shock. Brody drops down behind her and holds her to his chest exclaiming “No! No! This can’t be happening! This can’t be fucking happening!” before the video cuts out._ **

It showed what the news network didn’t. It showed the truth as most of what the news was showing was bullshit. Bullshit about it being under control…that it had to be some kind of hoax.

_Day nine of the global outbreak_

“Hey Corr.” Eric says timidly when Ana, Luis, and I come into the living room in the morning so I question “Hey Eric?” “The…the uh…video from yesterday is gone…and we were wondering if you could find it or another again.” Clark answers for him so I take a deep breath and nod before starting the search on my laptop.

****Time Skip****

Eventually I manage to connect to a site after jumping through many “hoops” that someone had set up for people to share their own videos, comments, and questions. It also seemed that many people were suggesting to trying to contact your friends and family and to say goodbye just in case before everything goes down. “Hey guys.” I say then causing them all to look at me so I continue “They’re suggesting trying to connect to our friends and family to say goodbye just in case before everything goes down.” “Before?” Ana questions so I nod saying “They say eventually it will if there’s no one left to keep it going.” “It’s as good an idea as anything right now.” Clark says so everyone nods and start to try and do so.

_Day ten of the global outbreak_

“Guys! I got her! I’ll put her on speaker!” Dove cries happily after finally connecting to her sister, Connie, who was currently vacationing in France and whose phone had gone straight to voicemail yesterday. “Hey guys. How is it there?” Her voice questions so Dove answers “It’s been better. We’ve lost a few friends. What about you? Are you safe?” “Yes. I’m safe. I’m with a kind couple who are letting me stay with them when all transportation halted. It’s not that bad here though. We haven’t seen anyone effected yet.” “That’s good.” Dove tells her causing her sister to respond “Yeah. Have you been able to contact Mom and Dad though?” “No.” Dove tells her sadly causing her sister to choke back a sob as she says “I thought you’d say that.” Before asking “Are you safe?” “Yes. I’m safe. I’m with Clark and seven more friends at the boys’ house.” Dove tells her earning a “That’s good. I should go now. I love you. Stay safe.” “I love you too. You stay safe too.” Dove tells her before getting off her phone and hugging Clark in happiness.

_Day eleven of the global outbreak_

Now most of us are trying to keep our mind off of the horrors happening outside by keeping ourselves busy gathering the possibly useful things of our dead or gone friends. We then removed the things that we probably wouldn’t need from our bags (like our class books and work) before sorting the “useful” things and the remaining non-perishable food evenly and based on need between the groups in case we got separated. If we did get separated we made a plan to meet at the department store Ana worked at because, well, they never locked the back door due to “fire safety”/the manager not wanting to have to lock and unlock it every morning. Then we’d eventually figure out where to go from there. Patrick wanted to head to a Quarry a few miles outside of Atlanta that basically everyone but Eric and I knew about from some campfire party they went to a few months ago. Ana tried getting me to go but parties…or interacting with people I didn’t really know…weren’t really my thing. But none of us knew the first thing about camping.

We also started routinely checking the website for any important updates and checking in with the family members and friends we had gotten into contact with.  Though some of us had already assumedly lost some by them no longer answering. Clark’s parents, everyone Stan had previously gotten into contact with, Eric’s parents and grandparents, Cali’s cousin in Canada, Louis’s elder-sister, Ana’s grandparents, a few of each of their hometown friends, and unfortunately my parents as well. These guys were the only ones I had left though I hoped that the reason I couldn’t reach my parents anymore was because they ended up forgetting the charger to their phone when they told me that they were going to head to Grandma’s in King County two days ago.

_Day twelve of the global outbreak_

The nine of us were currently gathered around my computer watching videos shared on the site when we came across a live video that just showed the face of an Asian girl talking:

**“ _We here. Anyone listening? Someone listen. We Tokyo. Very bad here. Very bad Tokyo.” That’s when screaming can be heard in the background causing her to look back just as objects run by the textured window behind her. She looks back at the camera before continuing “Don’t bury dead. First shoot in head. Don’t bury dead. First shoot in head!” That’s when there’s the sound of glass shattering in the background causing her to immediately get up and run in what must be the opposite direction. Soon a body with torn and bloody clothes shambles past the screen. Followed by another one and another before one ends up knocking into whatever she had been using to broadcast to the ground cutting the signal just as another scream could be heard._**

“I hope she’s alright.” Dove whispers causing Stan to snap “Alright?! She’s not alright! She’s either getting torn apart by those things we saw or is about to!” “Enough Stan!” Clark snaps as Dove throws herself into his arms sobbing earning a simple “What? It’s true.” From Stan. “Can you be a little sensitive?” Cali snaps back causing Stan to scoff “Sensitive? Everyone I knew other than you sorry fuckers is gone! Forgive me for not being sensitive!” “We’ve all lost people Stan.” Ana says only to get an eye-roll from him before he walks off.

_Day thirteen of the global outbreak_

“Guys!” Dove cries suddenly as she puts her phone on speaker and redialed. Instead of her sister or her voicemail it was an automated voice telling us _“The person you are trying to reach is unavailable. Please try again later.”_ “Jesus.” Cali breathes out before Dove questions sadly “What about nine-one-one? They should be able to connect with her right?” “Yeah.” Clark tells her causing her to try it. But it doesn’t even ring and only has an automated voice tell us _“Due to the unusual volume of calls, your call cannot be completed at this time. You are advised to stay indoors and lock your doors and windows. Do not go outside. If you know anyone who has the following symptoms, quarantine them immediately. The symptoms are: coughing, fever, high temperatures, vomiting, and severe hallucinations.”_

“What about the internet?” Eric questions panicked so I open my laptop and attempt to connect. I breathe a sigh of relieve when it connects before telling them “Still here.” Causing them all to breathe a sigh of relief too knowing that wasn’t down. “Can you please check and see if you can see how bad it is where she is?” Dove asks so I nod and go to the website I found and send out the question: “Does anyone know how bad France is? We can’t contact our family that is there anymore.” And almost immediately people started commenting variations of same here and neither can we. This causes Dove to start crying and then sobbing when someone finally comments “It’s getting really bad. I’m sorry about your families.”

_Day fourteen of the global outbreak_

I’m awoken by Ana shaking me awake. “Wh-“ I start to ask only for her to cover my mouth and put her finger to her lips. I nod and sit up to see the other girls in the room with us and with their bags. Cali also had the other bat in her hands and I noticed that Ana was holding the crowbar. That’s when we start to hear the faint sound of the guys arguing with unknown voices from downstairs. Ana motions for me to collect my bags as she did the same. I quickly do it just before the arguing suddenly stops. We all share a look before the door suddenly revealing Luis who had his weapon, one of the kitchen knives, his bag, and was motioning for us to come quietly. That’s when we heard the banging of multiple things hitting the house from downstairs.

We cautiously follow him downstairs and I see that the guys had been arguing with another group, three guys and two women, with only one of the guys not having a gun and one of the women being pregnant. “So you do have more people.” One of the guys, an angry dark-haired guy in a military uniform, hissed angrily but quiet when the three glanced in our direction. The three of the other four, the African-American older mom-type woman who seemed to be the mother of the beautiful pregnant African-American woman, who seemed to be the wife/girlfriend of the handsome dirty blonde business-man type guy, gives us an apologetic look before back towards the front of the house, the source of the banging, while the African-American over-protective dad type older man seemed like he could care less about us.

Stan who had slowly crept towards the front windows, which were covered by the curtains, with his bat raised a ready slowly held the bat with one hand, held his other hand up and flashed the number five twice, flashing the number two, making an “give or take” motion as he peaked out the window from the side of the curtains without touching them, before slowly backing back up. Meaning there was about twelve of those things out there.

 “You got a back door?” The older man questions causing Patrick to answer “Yeah.” “Let’s use it.” He responds not taking his eyes off the source of danger causing Clark to say “And go where? We don’t know you people. We only let you in because of her and look what that’s got us.” While pointing to the pregnant woman. “If you kids just did what I said this wouldn’t have happened.” The military guy snaps causing the non-pregnant woman to say “Officer Reynolds is helping us go up to Chicago. You’re welcome to come with us if you don’t have plans to go somewhere else. It’s obviously not safe here for you anymore.” “Paula.” The older man says in a scolding manner causing Luis to say “Thanks but we’re good. We have a spot of our own planned out.” “Good.” The two unfriendly males say before we start to hear the distinct sound of glass cracking. “The windows cracking.” Dove says panicked so Patrick and Reynolds announce “Let’s go before it breaks.”

We all quickly and as quietly as possible head to the back door. Stan slowly opens the door and looks both ways before motioning for us to go. We all start heading down the surprisingly empty street before we realize Eric wasn’t following us. The eight of us stop and turn around causing Paula to question “What’s wrong?” as she stops with us, causing the others to stop too. “Let’s go. Don’t bother with them.” The older man hisses earning a “They’re kids.” From her while Dove answers her question with “Eric isn’t following us.”

That’s when we spot him waving and shaking his head with a sad smile on his face, still in the doorway of the house. “Fuck.” Patrick says in a guilty tone, but all of us had forgotten about his fear of leaving the house, causing Dove to scream “No! You have to come with us!” as she runs towards him. “Dove no!” Clark calls quickly going after her causing the rest of us to call “Guys!”

Dove is only a few steps away when he’s grabbed with multiple hands and pulled back into the house causing her to scream another “No!” and crumple to the ground. Unfortunately this causes some of them to abandon him and start shambling towards her. That’s when another group of them pop out of an alley between us and them forcing us to have to start backing away as we start to hear gunshots, which draw the whole new group in their direction instead of ours.

“Wait! We can’t just leave them! They’re just kids!” The two women call then so we turn to see that they’re now getting dragged away by the guys. We quickly turn back around when we then hear Dove’s and Clark’s screams. “Come on guys. There’s nothing we can do for them now.” Patrick says then causing most of us to breathe out a “Shit.” As we turn back around, leaving them for those things. But we don’t bother trying to catch up to/find the five as they had already disappeared down an alley when our backs were turned.

****Time skip****

Our luck ran out after a few miles when we ran into a large group of those things just chilling in alley. “Oh shit.” Ana breathes out as we all quickly turn to run back the way we came. We get a few feet away from the alley before one of them suddenly grabs Stan’s ankle from its “hiding” place under a van causing him to fall and ends up dropping his bat, causing it to roll away and unfortunately under a car, while more start stumbling out from a bus. Stan desperately tries kicking it away as Patrick goes to go for it but has to impale another that gets too close for comfort. The other’s try to help as I go and try and reach the fallen bat from the relative safety of being near the group instead of the other side. My hand had just closed around it when Stan screams in pain, meaning he was probably bitten. I quickly pull it out and stand up as Stan starts screaming “You mother fuckers! I’ll take you all with me!” 

Luckily I was just in time to have to be able to stumble away from one that managed to get past them. I quickly try and hold the bat correctly as it slowly reaches for me and follows after me. “Patrick!” Cali screams then momentarily causing me to lose focus and glance in their direction just as Patrick screams with one biting down on his arm. That’s when my arms are grabbed and the thing tries to take a bite out of me as I quickly try pull away from it while Cali starts screaming “You bastards!” This causes me to trip over, probably my own feet, and fall to the ground taking it with me. “Fuck!” I exclaim desperately trying to keep its snapping jaws away from my face by using the bat as a blocker. “Corr!” Ana exclaims then causing me to dare and look in her direction to see Cali desperately trying to smack the things away from a fallen Patrick, how he got there I don’t know, and Ana and Luis fighting their own things as they slowly made their way towards me.

I could feel my tears start to roll down my face then as I realize they probably won’t get to me before this thing gets me. But that’s when Cali lets out a deafeningly loud scream distracting the things enough that I was able to push the thing off me. I quickly scramble away from it as Cali is now screaming “Go!” over and over again. Surprisingly the thing doesn’t try for me again but slowly crawls in her direction. I slowly stand up as I watch them swarm Cali while Ana and Luis finally make their way to me, careful not to re-gain the things attention. We all share a painful look before continuing our journey…losing six people to these things within a few minutes…hours…I don’t know anymore…is hard but we had to keep going and find a safe spot to survive, for them.

****Time Skip****

When it became obvious that we weren’t going to be able to make it to our destination before nightfall we started checking the buildings, which still seemed intact/secure, that we passed for unlocked doors or with someone to answer the rhythmic knocking. And just when we thought we’d have to hide in a dumpster we come to a video store whose windows and door were covered with paintings of different movies. We send a silent prayer that it will be unlocked or someone will be there to open the door before I try the door handle while they keep watch. I breathe a sigh of relief when the handle turns and the door opens.

“It’s open.” I say quietly stepping into the almost complete blackness of the store with only one row of the lights being on. They quickly follow me inside so I shut the door behind us, which doesn’t help with the darkness situation but we wouldn’t want any un-invited guests. I pull out my phone then and turn the flashlight on and pan it around the store. Surprisingly everything seemed to still be intact and nothing seemed to be knocked over in a struggle. We also couldn’t hear anything other than our own breathing, which was good but we couldn’t relax yet. We had to check it thoroughly before we could.

We’re huddled together as we painstakingly check the store, going slowly up and down the aisles and panning the light over everything as we go. We first come to the bathroom and surprisingly find it empty and blood-free. New we come to the backroom to find a bloody employee slumped against the lockers, between them and the bench, and blood on the backdoor, floor, lockers, and bench. We all share a look before Luis whispers “Hey.” But get no reaction. “Hey.” He repeats a little louder and still nothing so with a hand to tell us to stay he slowly steps towards them before kicking their shoe.

Again there was nothing so Luis slowly crouches down and looks them over before suddenly they suddenly start raising their arm. “Luis!” Ana cries causing him to try and jump back but gets stopped by the bench, causing his legs to become tangled in theirs. “Shit!” He exclaims causing Ana and I to rush forward, her to pull him away as he scrambled away from it and me to ram the end of the bat, like a battering ram, into the side of its face. It falls over but unfortunately it wasn’t down for good as it slowly went to get up. Before I knew it, Luis had rushed forward and started stomping the things head in with a “God…Damn…Fucking…Fake…Shit!” between each stomp. “Luis.” Ana gently tries then but is ignored as he keeps stomping the mush that was the things head. “Damn it Luis. Stop!” She says then going over, grabbing him, and pulling him away as he keeps stomping the ground.

“Calm down. It’s dead.” She tells him gently while pulling him down to the ground with her as she started stroking his head, to calm him down. It was another close call…too close…but the check wasn’t over yet. So I approach the backdoor, pull my sleeve over my hand, and wipe off the bloody handle before trying to open the door, only to find it locked. I look over at the fallen body then and notice a set of keys connected to their belt.

Walking over, I reach down, grab them, and try to pick them up only for them to still be connected to one of those pull strings. “Of course.” I grumble annoyed having to let them go and pull the clip off the belt before walking back over to the backdoor, trying each key before finding the correct one, and then unlocking and slowly opening it to find an alley. I slowly stick my head out and look down either side only to find it was empty, save for a few dumpsters, bloodstains, and bags of trash. Breathing a sigh of relief, at the aspect of another probably safe escape route and none of those things, I slowly close the door again but leave it unlocked as we’d probably rest back here where there was no windows. “Whatever got him is long gone. I’m going to go lock the front door. Don’t want any un-invited guests.” I tell them then while shaking the keys causing Luis to say “Yeah. Be careful.” Before looking over at the body adding “We should probably drag that out before cleaning up the blood.” “You think? I’m not sleeping in the same room as that.” Ana snaps in a disgusted tone earning an annoyed “I know that.” From Luis. This of course pissed her off causing her to snap “Well excuse me. Didn’t know you still knew what I liked after you fucked another girl!” so I give a quiet “I’m gonna go now.” Before fast walking out the door as Luis groans “Don’t bring that up now.”

I could faintly hear their argument as I make my way back to the front door. And once I was there I could faintly hear the sounds of gunshots from somewhere in the city. With a sigh I lock the door before turning to look at the store and end up noticing something I didn’t before, a T.V. in the corner by the register on the menu for the Disney movie _The Princess and the Frog_. With a small laugh I go over to the register and look for the remote. Finding it I point it at the T.V. and unmute it, allowing the sweet instrumental music to come from the speakers faintly. It might be a bad idea but it’d be nice to simply watch a Disney movie to take our minds off the horrors that have and are happening outside.


	3. Keep Living On

_Day fifteen of the global outbreak_

The vibrations of my phone on the tile floor woke me up after I don’t know how long. Rubbing my eyes as I sit up, I then open them to see that sometime during the night Ana and Luis decided to sleep together as they were now sleeping naked, half covered by one of the two blankets we had, on the opposite side of the room, their discarded clothes in random spots around them. But how they managed to do it without waking me I’ll never know. With a shake of my head I then look at my phone to see I’d gotten a call and voicemail from an unknown number. Confused I slowly unplug it from the charger, pick it up, bring the voicemail up, press play, and bring it to my ear to listen to it: _“I hope you get this Corr. When we were trying to convince Grandma and Grandpa this thing was real King County started to get really bad. Then they broke in and in our hurry we forgot the phone charger and it took a while to find someone who did and would lend their phone to us. Grandma and Grandpa are gone but your mom and I are currently in Alabama with a group heading to somewhere that claims that it’s safe there. But we don’t want you or your friends to follow until we know for sure so we’re not telling you where we’re going or want you to tell your friends about this. Stay safe and we’ll come and find you when we know for sure. We love you.”_ My father’s voice tells me causing tears of relief and sadness to start falling from my eyes. They were still alive…at least for now. But I had a sickening feeling that this was actually a cryptic goodbye message telling me they were leaving but they didn’t want me to give up. They wanted me to keep fighting and live…for them. So with a deep breath I plug my phone back into the charger, which I’d remembered to plug into the wall outlet yesterday before we settled in after watching the movie and cleaning up the blood from the room. Laying back down, I pull the blanket I had around me and try to go back to sleep.

****Time Skip****

“Do you think we should check out the lockers and collect the useful stuff in them and the rest of the food in the store before we leave?” Ana questions as we were packing up the blankets and things we’d taken out of our bags, getting ready to leave, causing Luis to pause and say “We’re not thieves. I left cash for the stuff we ate last night and it was different when it came to the guy’s stuff. They are our friends and won’t care that we took their things when this thing ends.” “When this ends? This thing is all over the world Luis. Do you really think that who took what to possibly help them survive will matter when it does?” Ana questions in a mildly annoyed and angry tone so to try and avoid a full blown argument between the two I offer “How about we only take enough to give us a few days? We lost a lot when…you know. Then we can put the rest in the lockers so the only thing that can get it is the living and if those things break in they won’t destroy or contaminate it.”

He’s quite then as he looks at me with a hard stare causing me to look down at my feet whispering “It was just a suggestion.” “Luis stop that! She’s right.” Ana angrily snaps then causing him to sigh heavily before saying “You’re right…I’m sorry…It’s just you mentioned yesterday like it was any other day. Not one where we lost six of our friends. Hell, you almost got killed too.” This is when Ana quickly walks towards him, grabs his arm, and starts dragging him out of the room with a “We’re going to collect the stuff in the store. Corr you stay here and start going through the lockers.”

They’re both out of the room before I can form any sort of response so I sigh and look towards the lockers. With a deep breath I pull out my phone to look up a video on how to pick locks just in case none of the keys I had worked on them. I feel bad for feeling relieved at having no new messages for a second before starting to do what I was told. From the moment I entered our freshman dorm room Ana has always seemed be understand me and know exactly what I was feeling. And being friends was just kind of there the whole time. Which evolved into being friends with people she made friends with. Then Dove and Clark started dating and the rest of the guys were just added into our group…But now…

Shaking my head of that depressing thought I unzip the small duffel bag in the bottom of the locker I was currently in to find that it was whoever’s gym bag, with a pair of newer tennis shoes sitting on top. They would probably be better for Ana to wear, instead of her flats, so I check to see if they’re her size, which I only know because she’s had me order some for her the last time there was an online sale of some brand I didn’t bother to remember. Not that it matters what brands someone wore anymore…well…it never really did in my book. Luckily they were so I take them out and set them on the bench, next to the other useful stuff I found, just as the two come back in, with the remaining food in their arms.

“Find anything good?” Ana questions as she just drops the stuff in her arms into Luis’s, earning an “Really?” as half of it falls to the floor. He immediately gets a hard glare from her as she tells him “Separate it and find a place for the rest.” In her “I’m still mad at you.” Voice. He sighs heavily as he starts to do as told so I give Ana my own “Really?” look. I only get a smirk in return that totally meant “He’s doing it isn’t he?” so I explain “Found a few granola bars, an empty water bottle, and a pair of tennis shoes that are in your size. Oh and I found the window paint. I thought it would be a good idea to cover the windows of the shop once we get there.” While pointing at said items sitting on the bench. “Good idea. We only use the markers at the shop so we wouldn’t have enough to cover the windows fully. And thank god! My feet are killing me after running in these.” She exclaims motioning to her red flats before she gets one of those scarily happy smiles on her face as she adds “I found something too.” While she reaches a hand behind her. “Okay?” I question giving her a worried look, knowing that look could mean she either found something good or embarrassing…to me. Figuring that we were in the situation that we were in and the place we were it was probably the latter.

“I know we’ll probably never be able to _enjoy_ it again but it couldn’t hurt to take it with us.” She tells me then, emphasizing the word enjoy, while she brings a movie case from behind her back causing me to raise an eyebrow at her and question “What is it?” “This!” she exclaims happily finally showing me the front of the case, revealing the face of Gerard Butler as Cable in the movie Gamer, before she shoves it into my hands. I instantly start laughing with her doing the same. Gamer was one of the movies that we watched repeatedly from the moment it came out on DVD. I liked the story, despite the bad reviews, and the soundtrack while Ana liked watching the, in her words, “ripped” actors. I even used a few of the songs in my game.

“We don’t know if we’ll survive the day and we’re taking a movie.” Louis mutters then causing Ana to snap “Like I said, it couldn’t hurt!” To which he just sighs but thankfully drops it as he continues to fight with balancing most of the food in the locker, the rest sat in a pile next to his and Ana’s bags. “That’s what I thought.” Ana huffs practically kicking off her flats as she sat down on the bench, to put on the shoes instead, so I turn to my bag, leaning against the wall next to the plug. Going over to it I unzip the bigger area, move the blanket and clothes over, and slip the movie in the computer case with my computer, that I couldn’t bring myself to leave behind even though it may become a paperweight if this thing continues, which was next to my books, that I couldn’t bring myself to leave behind even though they take up space and add added weight. The two bottles of water, jar of peanut butter, two packets of chicken flavored ramen, couple of granola bars, baggie of Cheez-Its, a bag of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos Puffs, and couple of bags of the Cheez-It and Chips Deluxe Gripz where stored in the smaller area, and the rest of my things were still stored in my satchel bag.

“What are we going to do once we get there? Wait it out there or what?” Ana questions, having gone over to her bag and started shoving half of the snacks into it, causing Luis says “It’s going to depend on how safe we can make it. Then if we can find some camping things and a survival book or something we can think about going to that quarry. I mean it’s not like any of us have gone camping before or anything like that.” in a tone that probably meant it should be obvious, while doing the same as her. Of course Ana gives him a quick glare as she zips up her bag before pulling it over her shoulders with a “No need to be a dick about it.” So I, take her cue, and pull on my bags, as he taunts “You asked.” While doing the same after zipping his up, earning a snapped “And I said no need to be a dick about it!” from her as she stormed back over to the bench and picked up the plastic store bag which I had emptied of a change of clothes and put the paint in.

With that she turned, held it out to Luis, and added “You can carry it. You are the only one with a one handed weapon.” “Only because I’m actually trained in bladed combat.” He says stepping forward and taking the bag causing her to scoff out “Bladed combat? You fenced.” “It still counts.” He snaps which just causes her to say “Let’s hope so and let’s go.” As she pats him on the shoulder before she picks up her crowbar, which was leaning on the wall with my bat near the door, picks up the keys from the floor next to it, and heads out the door. With a sigh he motions for me to come on so I nod and quickly collect my bat and follow him out the door.

We join Ana at the door before she motions for us to listen and presses her ear against the door. We do the same and after a few moments of hearing nothing she takes her ear off the door and whispers “Shouldn’t we still hear gunshots and stuff?” “Maybe it’s calmed down.” Luis offers, earning an eye roll and a “Really?” from her before she mutters “Whatever. If it’s really calmed down we should go now.” And slowly unlocks the door. Louis and I step back as she slowly opens the door and looks around outside.

“It’s clear.” She says stepping and holding the door for us. So we join her outside and look around as she lets the door close behind us. It was quiet and empty, which was unnerving, as we start to make our way to the department store, occasionally having to step over or around things or even bodies, which we were careful not to touch in case they were like the former employee of the video store.

****Time Skip****

“This is really weird.” Ana breathes out as she opens the back door to the department store, her workplace, after our surprisingly uneventful journey. “Yeah, where is everyone or any of those things?” Luis questions as we step into the storage room that was so full of shelves and boxes that the large delivery door was pretty much unusable. “Maybe they’re being drawn to the refugee center?” I offer remembering how sound seemed to draw them, figuring that the refugee center would probably be making a lot of noise, causing Luis to offer “Or it’s actually ending.” “It’s entirely possible.” Ana says closing the back door behind us before adding “But if they’re all being drawn to the refugee center we should stay as far away from there as possible. And if it is ending, and I’m not saying that it is, we should stay here until someone comes and gets us.” “Agreed.” Luis says as I nod in agreement causing Ana to say “Let’s get this place secured then.”

_Day sixteen of the global outbreak_      

The three of us decided that we should start to go through the stuff in the store, including the _Lost and Found_ box and sort of pick up and sort the merchandise and decorations we’d emptied out of or taken off of some of the different stuff we used for barriers at the doors. Figuring that we should do so before we got too comfortable, if we ever did, since the most we had done was set up in the manager’s office, which just entailed laying out our blankets, storing our bags, and plugging in my laptop, my phone, and Ana’s phone. All with the plan that if the things broke in we’d barricade ourselves in there, which we did mainly because there was apparently no way to lock the door to the roof, get into the neighboring store as their door to the roof actually locked, or barricade the door to the small employee room that contained the small metal staircase to the roof. And because we did find that Ana’s manager had been hording junk food and snacks in a drawer of their desk, had a mini fridge with some water bottles, and had a microwave as well. Thus, the three of us wouldn’t have to worry about starvation or dehydration for probably another week with that plus what we had in our bags.

However, we had no idea exactly what’s going on outside with most of what was being posted on the site being just more of the same; with stuff starting to go bad or even bad to worse, rumors of safe places, people sharing what’s happened to them, and the like, and how we couldn’t even tell what time it was now unless we looked at the clock due to how we covered the windows and door with the window paint and barricaded them. Though, in the grand scheme of things that’s probably a good thing as if we couldn’t see out, they couldn’t see in.

****Time Skip****

The three of us were currently eating our sad dinner, of a noodle cup and bag of chips, as we attempted to watch the news on the small rabbit eared TV we had found in a box labeled _Emergency,_ basically hidden in the corner of one of the shelfs in the storage room, with the, tag less and somewhat dirty, small pink neopets snowbunny plush, surprisingly and happily discovered in the bottom of the _Lost and Found_ box, currently sitting in the small space between Ana and I, as if it was a real bunny. We couldn’t get the sound to work, figure out how to get the captions on, or get the image to have no static. But it was better than nothing as the radio that was there didn’t work at all. How the manager stayed the manager without keeping the stuff needed for emergencies working or updated was a mystery.

Luis had just gotten up to smack it again as the screen filled with static when we heard what sounded like helicopters. Ana and I quickly stand up our heads snapping up to look at the ceiling as Luis questions “You two hear that?” “Yeah.” I respond nodding before Ana announces “Let’s go look.” While grabbing my hand and starting to pull her with her.

“Maybe this is a bad idea.” Luis says as we step out on the roof and look up at the sky, searching for the source of the sound. “Too late now.” Ana says before releasing me and exclaiming “Look! There they are!” as she pointed into the semi-dark sky. “Thank god.” Luis breathes out as we all watch some helicopters fly overhead and wave at them causing Ana to sigh out “It’s really over.” relieved. But that’s when some flares are released from them causing Luis to say “I don’t think so.” His tone worried. “What’s happening?” Ana questions, in a scared tone, as another set of helicopters fly overhead causing Luis to shout “We need to go back inside!” We turn to go back inside but there’s an explosion and flash of light from in front of us causing us to freeze and look up as a fire ball rises a little over the tops of the buildings.

“They’re bombing us!” Ana cries out as there are more following after it getting closer and I breathe out “We’re going to die.” That’s when Luis grabs our hands and quickly pulls us into the building with him just before it shakes with the force of one that is closer. He forces us into the corner as the building shakes again and things could be heard falling from downstairs. We stay huddled in the corner listening to the explosions as they got further away until they eventually stopped causing us all to breathe out in relief.

“We’re alive.” Ana whispers so Luis says “We’re alone.” **“What?”** both Ana and I question looking at him in surprise causing him to look at the ground and say “We’ve been abandoned. The bombs are the last ditch effort after the military and National Guard fail or are told to retreat.” “But we’re alive! They can’t just leave us!” Ana cries causing Luis to yell back “They can! And they did! You were right! This thing isn’t going to end! We’re alone and we’re going to die!” “No!” I cry then feeling my eyes start to water so I close them and shake my head as I continue “We can’t die! We can’t!” “Corr.” Ana whispers then pulling me into a hug as she continues “We’re not going to. We have each other and that’s never going to change.”

_Day seventeen of the global outbreak_

We now could hear at least one of those things groaning when we were near the front door and windows. That plus the events of yesterday we didn’t really feel like continuing our sort of the clothes, shoes, and accessories in the store and just picked up the rest of it and piled it in a pile in the, now empty, middle of the store and simply just shoving the stuff that fell in the storage room back on the shelves. We also posted about what happened on the site to get out that there was still uninfected people here in the city since we never know who might reach out to us with a safe way to get out of the city or a safer place within the city. We also were watching the posts from the site to see if anything similar had happened in other cities. And we, well Ana and I, also placed the snowbunny on top of said pile, our own little copping bunny pile.

We were both used to seeing my own snowbunny on the top shelf of my bookcase along with the limited edition silver lupe neopets plush Ana managed to get her hands on last year, the Mattel Masters of the Universe Samurai Battle Cat action figure I’d gotten from my father, the couple Pokémon figures I had and decided to put on display (a few Eevee, a couple Togepi, a couple Mew, Poochyena), my Pooky Beanie Buddie, the two Beanie Babies I’d gotten from my grandparents Hoot and Sniffer, and the Basket Beanie Hippie I’d gotten from my mother one Easter. And it was at this point that I wished I had packed at least one of them and the small Kero plush from Cardcaptors/Cardcapter Sakura.

I’d gotten that Kero for my eleventh birthday and I still slept with it, it had practically been clued to me for a few years after all. It was also one of the things I had gotten from one of my dad’s army buddies over the years. Usually I got things like GI Joes, comics, or action figures, things that tough military guys wouldn’t be embarrassed to get so finding the small orange winged cat plush in the simple boxes, they were notorious to put them in, with a new Lady Jane figure was a surprise. My mom always said she’d pay to see him picking it up and going to the cash register with it, the other guys agreed, and his brother claimed it was hilarious. Maybe we can go back to our apartment and I can get them once we have to leave here. That is, if our apartment isn’t damaged from the bombs and everything.

I wonder if they’re all alright but none of them answered when I tried. Though Dan “Campbell’s” Campbell and Jorge “Red” McCallister were still deployed, Jed “Jedi” Martin had moved back home to Michigan to help his sister out with his three nieces when her husband just up and left a few years ago, and this was around the time that the Eckert brothers, Nicolas “Nicky” and Mathew “Mattie”, visited their mother in Florida, so who knows.

_Day eighteen of the global outbreak_

Ana and I were currently walking around the roof getting some much needed air and checking the ground for how many of those things were actually around us. Luckily there were only two of them around the front of the store, one behind it, and none on either of the other two sides.

“I think we should clear the back door.” Ana says suddenly causing me to stop and say “I don’t know. I think our plan of holing up in the office is pretty safe. There’s no windows so those things won’t be able to see us and they’ll eventually leave.” “I know…It’s just what if it isn’t those things that break in?” She replies slowly stopping as well causing me to ask “Not those things?” “Other people.” She says before turning and looking at me and continuing “The world wasn’t very nice before this.” With a weird look on her face. “Ana?” I question concerned causing her to give me a small smile before she looks up at the sky saying “Never mind.”

I follow her gaze up at the sky and watching as a cloud slowly moved across the sky, as if it wasn’t probably the end of life as we knew it, and slowly disappeared into another one.

_Day nineteen of the global outbreak_

I was busy trying to clean myself in the small bathroom, using one of the clean shirts as a washcloth, as we had started to stink, trying to sleep was harder having to smell it, and well…Lady Red decided it’d be a good idea to visit me last night. That and the fact that Ana still wanted to clear the back door while Luis still wanted to keep it barricaded, had “quietly” argued about it all night, and were still arguing about it within the office didn’t help any of our moods. At least with the door closed they were muffled and I could barely hear them in the store and couldn’t hear them within the bathroom.

****Time Skip****

Ana and I were now moving the stuff barricading the backdoor, her having won and Luis keeping watch of the back door on the roof. “He should just accept that I will always win.” She huffs as we set the final bench back where we found it so I nod saying “Yeah.”

_Day twenty of the global outbreak_

“What the hell is wrong with this thing now?” Luis groans smacking the T.V. filled with only static after he turned it on for us to check the news as we ate our “breakfast” of the last of the pop-tarts from the drawer, having decided to eat that stuff before the things from our bags. “See if it’s the same on the other channels.” Ana says so Luis starts pressing the channel button and changing the channel, each one showing static, causing him to state “It’s all the same.” “Maybe it’s gone.” I suggest causing them to look at me with an ‘Oh god’ look.

_Day twenty-one of the global outbreak_

“Ana we need to ration our food.” Luis scolded as Ana opened another bag of chips only causing her to snap “Are you calling me fat?” and me to decide to fish my Mp3 from my satchel bag. “Did I say that?!” He questions angrily, as I find it and place it on the ground next to me and start searching for the headphones, only for her to say “Well I don’t know mister sleep with other girls.” “I thought we were over that!” He exclaims, as I find the headphones and connect them to the Mp3, causing her to question “Why? Because we didn’t talk about it because the world went to shit?” “Yes! The world did go to shit! Who I did or didn’t sleep with isn’t important anymore!” He exclaims, as I place the buds into my ears, earning an “It is important! You’re supposed to love me and only me!” from her before I press play and let the voice of Sia flood my ears while I watch them continue to argue…yet again.


End file.
